Past and Present
by Violet Angel2
Summary: Sequel to The Past Came Back. Two months after Jake and Nicole disappeared, one of them is found in the Nevada desert. Will the VCTF finally find some answers or just more questions? Crossover with CSI:Crime Scene Investigation.
1. Chapter 1

**I decided that I needed to change some things with Past and Present so I deleted the story to start the rewrite. If you read the story previously, please disregard whatever you remember. We're starting over anew ;-)**

**Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and back story belong to their respective creators. I only own my own original storyline, and the characters that I have created. Please do not borrow them without permission.**

_This story is a sequel to "The Past Came Back". If you haven't read that one, this one probably won't make much sense. This is going to crossover at times with **CSI: Crime Scene Investigation** but will be focused mostly on the Profiler universe._

_The story is going to go back and forth between past and present (hence the title) but hopefully it won't confuse anyone._

* * *

_**2:40 AM Las Vegas time**_

"Nick, where's Greg?" Gil Grissom asked, having found one of the two CSI's he was looking for.

"He's helping out in the DNA lab since it's slow." Nick Stokes looked up from the paperwork he was filling out. "What's up?"

"I've got a 419 in the desert. Brass is on his way here, you and Greg will be following him out to the scene."

"You don't trust us not to get lost?"

"It isn't that, Nick. Your DB isn't exactly on the beaten path. A USDA chopper was flying over looking for rustlers and spotted the body. They dropped a GPS beacon so you can find your way to it, and Brass has the receiver."

* * *

"Damn, this _is_ out in the middle of nowhere," Greg Sanders commented when Captain Brass finally brought his car to a stop.

"Good place to dump a body."

"Or to get lost and die of dehydration and exposure."

The three of them walked over to where the body was and Greg frowned. "Well he hasn't been out here long, the body doesn't have any signs of decomposing."

"You better cancel the coroner and request an ambulance," Nick said, having crouched down by the body. "This guy's still alive and breathing."

"I'll get some blankets," Greg said, running to the Denali while a very surprised Jim Brass relayed the information to the dispatcher.

* * *

By the time the ambulance left Gil Grissom and Catherine Willows had joined Nick and Greg in looking for evidence. There was no identification on the man and he was unconscious so they couldn't ask him who he was and how he got out there. "There's footprints, looks like the victim's, leading up to where he was when you reached him," Catherine said, using her flashlight to illuminate the trail. "I'm going to follow them, see where it leads."

"I'll go with you," Gil quickly offered. "Can't have you getting lost in the desert," he teased.

After walking a while they found a vehicle. "Maybe this will tell us who our John Doe is."

"Maybe." Gil opened his kit, then put on gloves as Catherine was doing the same.

"Looks empty." Peering through the windows with her flashlight, Catherine saw that the passenger door wasn't shut completely. "Someone got out in a hurry, didn't bother to close the door."

"Let's get to work."

"The sun will be up soon. We should be able to see better if there are any other tracks around."

"I'll arrange a tow to get the car back to the lab."

"I'll photograph the area before it gets disturbed." Catherine had her camera snapping photos before Gil had even opened his phone to call for a tow truck.

* * *

"So, anything useful?" Gil asked when he entered the crime lab's garage.

"We got several prints off the windows, inside and out, as well as the dashboard. Mandy's running them now. We also found some blood drops in a few places on the backseat and the rear floorboard. Nothing in the trunk, and the steering wheel and driver's side door was wiped clean," Catherine reported.

"What about vehicle registration?"

"Plates were reported stolen in Elko two months ago off a minivan, and the VIN comes back as being donated to one of those charities several years ago. This car is supposed to be sitting in a salvage yard in Georgia."

"I'll call Nick and see if he's having any better luck out in the desert where we found the car."

* * *

"Damn, this rain is going to wash away any evidence," Nick yelled as Sara was snapping pictures.

"Yeah, seems like we always get the rainstorms just when we don't need them," she yelled back.

"Let's pack it up and get back to the lab. We're not going to find anything else out here until this rain stops."

* * *

"Nick and Sara are on their way back, thunderstorm hit and the rain's coming down too hard for them to do anything more," Gil announced as he closed his cell phone.

"Damn, there goes any hope for finding any more evidence," Catherine said with a sigh.

"At least we've got the car," Greg said, getting out of the car. "Strange that the steering wheel and driver's door handle were wiped down but the rest of the car was full of prints."

"Whoever was driving only cared about his or her prints not being found," Gil said.

"I've got something on the fingerprints recovered off the passenger door," Mandy Webster said, rushing in with a folder. "One of the prints matches an FBI agent that disappeared two months ago."

Looking at the file photo, Gil showed it to the other CSI's. "Looks like we just identified our victim."

"There's more. I also got a hit for Nicole Hillsdale. She disappeared with Jake Carter. There's been nothing on either of them since they were kidnapped."

"If she was in that car then she could still be out there in the desert." Greg looked worried now. "These thunderstorms are forecast to get worse, there's bound to be flash flooding."

"We also may have your kidnapper out there." Mandy held up another paper for Gil to look at. "One of the prints belongs to Patrick O'Doyle, a known crime boss from back east."

"Patrick O'Doyle, haven't heard that name in a while," Jim said.

"You know him?"

"I don't _**know**_ him, but I know of him from when I was cop in New Jersey."

"This does change things," Gil said, "but until the weather breaks there's nothing more we can."

"I'll make sure there are search crews ready to go out as soon as the storms move out," Jim said, leaving to get everything arranged.

* * *

_**9:50 A.M. Atlanta time**_

John was sitting at the conference table with Sam, waiting for Bailey and Grace to join them in discussing the cases they were working on.

"I was thinking we could go out for dinner tonight, there's a new Italian place and it's been a while since we had Italian. I already asked Angel if she would watch Chloe and she said she has no plans for tonight and would to."

"Wow, you really thought this through, didn't you?" Sam asked, smiling. "Italian sounds great."

"All right, what are you two whispering about?" Grace teased, taking her seat at the table. "He's talking dirty to you, isn't he?"

"Grace!"

"I'll have you know that I do not talk dirty to anyone while I'm working," John said seriously.

"Where's George?" Bailey asked, rushing into the command center

"He called, said he was running late. Flat tire, but he should be here soon," John answered.

"All right, I'll get a hold of George. You three, go home and pack because we're going to be leaving town for a few days." Bailey paused a moment before continuing. "Jake's been found. Just go, pack for a few days out of town and meet back here. We leave in ninety minutes."

_**

* * *

**_

1:30 P.M. Atlanta time

"They found Jake in the desert?" Grace asked once the plane was airborne. They were on a chartered plane so it was just their little group.

"We'll find out more when we get to Las Vegas, I'm sure. What information is available is in the files I gave you."

"Bailey, did they find any sign of Nicole?"

"A car was located, and there were fingerprints lifted. That's how they identified Jake. Nicole's prints were also in the car, but there was no sign of her. There's something else you should know, John. Your father's prints were found on the car."

"My father?"

"There's no sign of him either, at least not at the time that I received the call from the director. The Las Vegas Crime Lab is still going over all of the evidence from the car and searching the desert for more. They have one of the best crime labs in the country--"

"Next to the FBI's, you mean," Grace interrupted with a smirk.

"I said _one_ of the best. Anyway, they're going to continue working the forensic evidence. Grace, I'd like you to go over Jake's medical records at the hospital. See if there's anything they may have missed that can give us a clue as to how long he was in the desert and what happened to him. I spoke to a doctor at Desert Palms, and he's still unconscious. The rest of us are going straight to the Las Vegas police to find out the latest developments."

Sam felt the tension building in John from the moment he heard about his father's prints being on that car. It seemed like the more he tried to escape, the more ensnared he became. "You all right?" she asked softly, keeping her voice down although Grace and George were too absorbed with their own files to pay any attention.

"Yeah, I'm all right. I just don't understand why my father has to keep popping up."

"What your father does or does not do isn't your burden."

"I'm just worried about Nicole."

"We'll find her."

John turned to look out the window at the clouds they were traveling through, not bothering to look at the file. "What if we find her and she's not the Nicole we knew?"

"She's strong, and when we find her we'll help her just like we helped her before."

"She's been with my father for two months, Sam. I know what that bastard did to my mother. I know what he did to _me_."

"We don't know that Nicole has been with Patrick O'Doyle for the last two months."

"Right." John returned to staring out the window, and Sam resolved to let him be. She did rest her hand on his leg, and he in turn covered her hand with his and gave a gentle squeeze.

Closing her eyes, Sam decided to try and get some rest while they were flying. She couldn't help letting her mind wander back over the last two months, and she was certain that John was doing the same thing in his seat beside her.

* * *

_Two months earlier_

"John, it's three o'clock in the morning. Please come back to bed. We all need some sleep to be able to think straight."

"No, I can't. I need to get to the office. There has to be something that will tell us what happened."

Running her hand through her hair, Sam sat up and watched John get out of bed. "Will you at least let me come with you?"

"You should know I would never object to your company, Sam."

An hour later John and Sam walked into the command center only to find Bailey already there. "I thought you weren't going to spend the night here," Sam said.

"Funny, I thought the same thing about you two."

"I couldn't sleep and Sam said she'd come with me to keep me out of trouble."

"Have you eaten anything, Bailey?" Sam asked.

"No. I did go home, I just couldn't stand being there by myself so I came right back here."

"Let's all go get a cup of coffee and get away from this place for a while."

"She's right, Bailey. There's a diner just a few blocks away that's open all night, and I think we could all use some company right now. It's not easy going from that safe house with everybody to being on our own again."

_

* * *

_

Present

Glancing over at John, Sam found that he had fallen asleep still holding onto her hand. For the first few weeks they were back in Atlanta, she had grown accustomed to waking John from his nightmares. At first he refused to talk about them but finally he started to give her glimpses into the world that took over when he slept.

"_It's dark, and I can't see anything. I can just hear someone breathing heavy, and footsteps coming closer. I start running but since I can't see anything I don't know if I'm actually moving or not. The footsteps keep coming closer, and the breathing gets closer until I can actually feel hot breath on my back, and something metal is clanging around. Then I wake up."_

What it meant, Sam didn't know. John didn't seem to know either other than it was frightening. Finally they stopped occurring, John declared that it had been from not getting enough sleep and the stress of everything that happened, and the subject had been dropped. Now that they knew Patrick was not only connected but was with Nicole, she had a feeling the nightmares were going to start again, and not just for John.

Bailey had spent a few nights at the firehouse when he and John decided to drink their problems away and passed out in the living room. He never discussed what his nightmares were about, but more than once she found him crying in his sleep. For some reason she didn't want to push Bailey to talk about his nightmares the way that she gently pushed John; probably because she knew what Bailey's nightmares were about and no amount of talking was going to stop the pain of having two people that they all cared about disappear.

Looking over to where Bailey was sitting, she wasn't surprised to see him staring blankly ahead. There was a lot for all of them to process, and a million questions going through everyone's minds. Unfortunately, they would have to wait until Jake woke up to start getting answers to most of them. Sam decided that since John was sleeping she would do the same. There would be plenty to keep them awake once they arrived in Las Vegas.


	2. Chapter 2

**See Chapter One for disclaimers**

By the time the plane reached Las Vegas it was pouring down rain and lightening had nearly caused them to be diverted away from McCarren International. Fate smiled on them briefly, though, and the electrical activity moved away long enough for them to be cleared for landing. The two rental cars Bailey had arranged prior to their leaving Atlanta was waiting for them to pick up the keys at the counter and once the luggage was in the trunk they left, heading for the bright lights of Vegas.

oOo

They all wanted to get to the Desert Palms hospital but it was decided that they would go to the Las Vegas crime lab instead and see what evidence had been recovered. John was vocal about wanting to see Jake but Bailey called the hospital and told them Jake was still in surgery and would be for another two hours so there was no point in going to the hospital and doing nothing.

The crime lab was bustling; it wasn't every day that a missing FBI agent was found and although there was some dislike for the feds following the so-called "Strip Strangler" incident, they also understood that the VCTF wasn't just more FBI agents. The agent they found and the woman still missing were friends and co-workers. "Agent Malone just called, the FBI team is on their way here, then they'll head over to the hospital," Captain Brass told the group that was in the garage processing the car.

"They want to take over the investigation, don't they?" Nick said, shaking his head.

"No, they don't, Nicky. They just want to find the person responsible and find their missing friend."

"Can you imagine if someone from CSI disappeared and we had to let someone else investigate?" Greg asked.

"That is why we are going to extend every professional courtesy to them, and share everything that we find." Grissom came in with a folder in his hand. "Find anything to tell us where this vehicle was before it appeared in the middle of the desert?"

"Plates are stolen, no big surprise there. Registration comes back to a salvage yard in Georgia that bought it for scrap three years ago. I tried to reach someone but according to the Georgia DMV that salvage yard closed two years ago when the owner died and all of the cars were scrapped."

"All but this one." Grissom tapped the car's hood with the folder before ducking down to watch Catherine swabbing the floor of the backseat. "What have you got?"

"Blood. Someone back here was hurt and bleeding, but not much so it must have been a superficial wound. There's no spatter to indicate that there was any kind of struggle."

"This whole thing makes no sense," Nick said, frustrated. "Since the steering wheel and door handles were wiped clean, I think we can assume that Agent Carter was not the driver, yet we found no other tracks near where the vehicle was found. So what happened to the driver? And why drive into the middle of the desert just to be just as stranded as your passengers?"

"Maybe whoever was driving didn't intend for them to get stranded," Grissom offered.

"Then why wasn't Agent Carter with Patrick and Nicole? And if Agent Carter escaped, why take the time to wipe down the steering wheel and the door handles instead of going after him?"

"Hopefully when we find our missing people, we'll know the answer to that, Nick."

oOo

"Are we taking over the investigation?" Grace asked while they were all waiting in the lobby for Captain Brass to meet them.

"No," Bailey answered, "we are not. The locals are more than capable of taking care of this. We're here because Jake's here and Nicole is still out there. We owe it to both of them to see this through. Captain Brass and the Sheriff have assured me that we will have complete access to any and all evidence."

"I just hope we're not too late," John said, walking over to stare at the rain pouring down just outside the glass doors.

"Don't think like that," Sam cautioned, rubbing his back as she came to stand behind him. "We'll find her."

"We've been saying that for the last two months, Sam." Ignoring her, he continuing to watch the rain as it caused the gutters to fill with water.

* * *

_**Two Months Earlier**_

_Please help me. I don't want to die here._

John sat up with in bed, trembling, Nicole's plea still ringing in his ears.

It had been over a week since they had returned to Atlanta, and every time he closed his eyes to sleep he had the same nightmare. He was walking along in an area he didn't recognize, but he could see Nicole in the distance. She appeared to be standing near the edge of a cliff with a red valley spreading out before and below her. He started yelling her name but she didn't respond so he ran towards her and the side of the cliff gave way, sending her falling. He always woke up before he reached the edge to see what happened to her, but this time he heard her plea just as he was waking and it seemed so real but he knew that it couldn't have been. Her words must have been in his dream because she wasn't there.

Looking around the darkened room he could see Sam, still sleeping beside him, and he was thankful that he hadn't disturbed her. Slowly he got out of the bed, making sure Sam was still asleep before he left their bedroom for the play room that held Chloe's jungle gym and most of her other toys. The large glass window let the pink light of dawn filter in and he was content to just watch it, standing in silence as another day dawned. Another day that would bring them no closer to finding Nicole and Jake.

If she were there he had no doubt she would chide him for blaming himself and for giving up hope so soon. It had only been a week, after all, and yet it felt like it had been so much longer. This whole ordeal felt like it had dragged on for years.

"John?"

He turned and was greeted by a sleepy Sam in her pajamas, hair messed up and eyes half-open. "Yep, it's me."

"Why are you up so early?"

"Oh, you know, couldn't sleep and I didn't want to disturb you with my tossing and turning."

"Bad dreams?"

"Just couldn't sleep. You should go back to bed."

"Actually I got up early because I want to take Chloe to the zoo. Don't you remember? We talked about this last night. Bailey gave us his blessing to take time off from work, said it would do everyone some good to get away."

"Of course, I just didn't realize you wanted to get up this early to go to the zoo," he lied, wondering how he could have completely blanked out that conversation.

"You are coming with us, right?"

"Of course I am. How could I pass up the chance to spend the day with my two favorite girls?" That at least got a smile out of Sam.

"I'm going to wake Chloe up so she can start getting ready."

"At this hour? Sam, it's only 6:30."

"I just want to get an early start so we can make the most of this day off."

"Sam..."

"I feel like every minute has to count because it could be taken from us at any time just like they were."

"Shh, it's all right, Sam," he said as he put his arms around her and held her, feeling her sob against his chest. "We're all going to be okay."

"You don't know that."

"I do know that. We're strong, and Nicole and Jake are strong, and if we can't find them they'll find us. If there's one thing I learned it's that they're both too stubborn to give up." He kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back. "You sure you want to go to the zoo? Because we could just as easily stay in, watch movies or National Geographic all day and order some pizza..."

"No, I promise Chloe we were going out to the zoo. We need to get out of here and be outdoors. I think we've all spent far too much time enclosed for our own good."

"Angel coming with us too?"

"No, she wants to work on some of her sculptures."

"You go and get Chloe up while I fix us pancakes."

"You're going to fix pancakes?"

"Yes, I am going to fix pancakes. Go on, get Chloe while I start breakfast."

By the time Chloe and Sam came out to the kitchen John had mixed up pancake batter and was starting to pour it onto the griddle. "How did you do that so fast?" Sam asked, sitting at the table with her daughter.

"It's a secret," he said with a wink. "I hope you're both hungry."

"I am!" Chloe announced, and Sam laughed.

John found himself just watching them, taking in the sight of the two most precious people in his life laughing. It was something he had been afraid would never happen again, and he wondered if he would ever be able to laugh again.

oOo

Once breakfast was over with Chloe was practically dragging Sam and John to get ready so they could go.

"The animals aren't going anywhere, I promise," Sam told her daughter as she was practically running from the car to the entrance.

"I know Mommy, but it's been so long since we got to do something fun."

"Well there will be plenty of time to do fun things today," John said, "and maybe your Mom will let us go for pizza afterwards."

"Oh can we Mom? Can we?"

"Perhaps we can actually get to the zoo before we start planning what to do afterwards, ok?"

oOo

The trip to the zoo was more fun that John had expected, and he found himself relaxing and laughing along with Sam at the goofy things she and Chloe did. Seeing mother and daughter relaxed and having a good time made John feel more relaxed. Even the animals seemed calm and content in their enclosures, occasionally walking closer to the people or eating some food.

All too soon, according to Chloe anyway, the day was over and the zoo was getting ready to close. "So, can we have pizza?" John asked as Sam was digging in her purse for the car keys.

"Please?" Chloe joined in, hoping to convince her mother.

"Yes, we can have pizza," Sam answered.

Chloe got into the back seat, looking happier than Sam could remember her being in a long time. "So did you have some place in mind?" she asked John absently as they got in the car.

"As a matter of fact, I do. Do you know how to get to Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta?"

"Yes, I know how to get there."

"Great. Dinner is on me. It's the least I can do for my two favorite girls."

As they drove down the I-75 John gave Sam directions on what exit to take and in less than half an hour they were inside, waiting for a pepperoni and cheese pizza with extra sauce and mushrooms. John's cell phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket. 'UNKNOWN CALLER' showed on the screen so he pushed the button to silence the ringer before putting the phone back in his pocket. He was not going to let this dinner be interrupted by some unknown caller. _Probably a damn advertisement or political campaign_ he thought as he watched Chloe gleefully taking a slice of pizza, the call forgotten as he joined in and grabbed himself some pizza.


End file.
